Merck Kgaa

Good morning everyone here in Darmstadt at the Merck Innovation Center and from Darmstadt into the world and a warm welcome to our annual Merck press conference. My name is Axel Wöber, I'm head of communications of Merck and I'm here today with our CEO Belen Garrigo and our CFO Helene von Röder and both will walk you through our results of 2025 and of course talk about our outlook for 2026. So, as always, both Helene and Belen will give some insights first before we dive into our Q&A session a little bit later. And with that, already, I'd like to ask to the stage, Belen Gericho. Belen, the stage is yours.

Thank you, Axel, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking part in our full-year press conference, whether you are here in Darmstadt or following us virtually. As Axel mentioned, Helene and I will provide an overview of our business performance for 2025, as well as an outlook for 26. After this, we look forward to your questions. So let me start by summarizing 2025 in a few messages. First of all, we deliver on our financial guidance. Second, our diversified business and regions was a source of strength. And last but not least, we are positioned in major growth areas such as health and AI, and these will be strong platforms for future growth. Before we dive into the numbers, let me reflect on 2025. We recognize that the ongoing crisis, the geopolitical tensions, and rather global challenges have become the new normal. our new reality. The recent developments in the Middle East once again demonstrate how quickly political uncertainties can escalate. This is obviously a very concerning situation, and as you can imagine, the safety of our employees and the safety of our partners in the region is a top priority for us right now. We are in close contact with our teams on the ground and at this moment we see no material impact both at the employee level or in anything that relates to our logistics and distribution. Now, let us deep dive now on 2025. Our achievements are made possible by our more than 62,000 dedicated colleagues globally and our recently expanded executive board team. I want to take this opportunity to extend My heartfelt gratitude to the entire Merck team for their commitment, for their creativity, and for their dedication. Thank you so much, everybody. In 2025, as you know, we strengthened our executive board, welcoming Danny Barsojar, Jan Charles Beard, and Khadija Benhamada to the team. We also announced that Kai Beckman will be my successor as the CEO of Merck. And most recently, Benjamin Hein has been appointed as KAI's successor as the CEO of electronics. Let me now highlight some of our business sectors in 2025. First, in life science, we continued to invest on both capability and capacity. In 2025 we opened our new 100 million facility in Blarne in Ireland and this site produces critical filtration technologies that are used in advanced therapies and is expected to create over 200 jobs by 2028. We are also strengthening our innovation capabilities including in the next generation biology. This is illustrated through the strategic acquisitions that we have announced as half organoids and the JSR chromatography business in life science. Those are excellent examples of how we are reinforcing our portfolio leadership strategy. provide earlier predictive insights into human biology and help researchers identify promising candidates faster and make better informed decisions when it comes to clinical development. And of course this leads to faster clinical progress and hopefully to improve outcomes for complex diseases like cancer as well as genetic disorders. You can see an organoid 3D dome as an exhibit here. Now, in the healthcare sector, we are making strategic moves to strengthen our position in high-growth areas. In July 2025, we completed the acquisition of SpringWorks in the US, establishing rare diseases as a new strategic growth pillar for Merck. In October, we announced an agreement with the White House to increase access to approved IVF therapies. This will strengthen our presence in this highly attractive market while providing affordable access to innovative fertility treatments and to families on their journey to parenthood. You will also see a Pergoveris pen, one of our key IVF treatments in today's exhibit. In December, we received an approval for Pimicotinib in China for treating symptomatic tenosynovial giant cell tumor, which is a rare tumor that affects joints, tendons, or the bursae. This is Pimi. first global approval and a significant step in strengthening our leadership in rare tumors, which will stay a key growth drivers for us. Now let's look at electronics. In 2025, we seized new opportunities for our electronic business and gain benefit from the growing artificial intelligence demand. In August, we also completed the sale of surface solutions, allowing electronics to become a pure-plate business in semiconductor solutions. At the end of 2025, the acquisition of Unity SC already contributed to our organic growth for the first time since we acquired the company. In December, we also inaugurated a 500 million semiconductor solutions mega-site in Taiwan. Therefore, electronics is well positioned to meet the rising demand from artificial intelligence. It is important to note that Merck is involved in 99% of chips that are produced worldwide. We supply materials and chemical solutions for many of the critical steps in chip manufacturing process. In our exhibits today, you can see three different types of transistors that are essential for chip production. To give you an idea of a scale, the Apple M1 Max chip contains approximately 57 billion transistors, all packed into an area about the size of the chip of an index finger. The technologies and services that we offer to the semiconductor industry are one of Merck's key growth drivers. Let me now give you an example of how Merck delivers on future technologies. Because as a science and technology company, we drive innovation by bringing technologies together. A great example is our partnership with IMEC on organ-on-a-chip technology. which combines our expertise in biology with advanced semiconductor chips to simulate human organ functions using living cells. This allows scientists to test medications safely and effectively without using animals, making also drug development faster and even more reliable. You can see this technology Once again, among our exhibits today. All these achievements demonstrate what I said at the beginning, and this is our strategy to drive growth through innovation is working. Our diversified businesses and regions is giving us significant resilience and strength. Our in-region for region approach provides global flexibility while meeting local needs and we are well positioned in major growth areas also for the future and those are semiconductors, rare diseases and advanced therapies. Today Merck stands strong with a clear focus on three growth drivers. Process solutions in life science, rare diseases in healthcare, and semiconductor solutions in electronics. And this is, once again, a strong platform for future growth. Now let's move on to the financial performance of 2025 that Helena will further detail. We have delivered on our guidance spot on. despite a tough 2025 that was marked by significant geopolitical challenges in major markets and, importantly, very strong currency headwinds. Net sales were around stable at 21.1 billion, And throughout the year, strong negative foreign exchange effects weighed on net sales and EBITDA brief. These effects largely resulted from the exchange rate development of several Asian currencies, as well as the U.S. dollar. Overall, the group EBITDA brief was $6.1 billion up, by 5.6% organically. Now, let's look briefly at some of the highlights from Q4 of 2025. In Q4 2025, our group organic sales came in at a solid 2.6% growth. We deliver profitable growth once again supported by all the three sectors, with Group Evita Pre up 3.1 organically. In life science, a strong order intake momentum in process solutions fueled the growth in the business sector. The organic sales growth in healthcare was driven by a strong growth in our CM&E franchise alongside contributions from Mavenclad and from Fertility. Both Mavenclad and Pergoveris achieved double digit growth. Although electronics reported a decline in organic sales due to headwinds from our DS&S business, our semiconductor material business achieved its strongest quarter of the year in Q4. It continued to benefit from strength in artificial intelligence and the advanced nodes markets. Based on this result, we will propose a stable dividend of 2.2 euros during our general meeting, annual general meeting in April 24th. And now let's take a closer look at the numbers for the full year 2025. And it's my pleasure to hand over to Helene who will walk you through our 2025 financial performance. Helene, welcome on the stage.

Thank you very much. And a warm welcome also from my side. So if you look at our net sales in 25, they came in around stable. And our organic sales growth was really dampened by foreign exchange effects of around 4%. Foreign exchange had a significant negative effect across all sectors, mainly driven by the US dollar, as well as Asian currency. Our life science business, if you look at it, grew organically driven by sustained demand from our process solutions customer that drove order momentum. Healthcare delivered solid organic performance despite market pressures. And electronics recovered towards the end of the year thanks to AI driven demand in our semiconductor solutions. Although, full year organic sales were slightly down. EBITDA pre was 6.1 billion euros, which actually corresponded to a margin of 28.9% of net sales. And with that, let's take a look at our business sectors. And I'm starting with life science. Life science has returned to growth, delivering organic sales growth of 4%. And as mentioned earlier, this growth was driven primarily by double-digit organic growth of a process solutions business that saw the market normalize and move beyond the destocking phase finally this year. EBITDA pre rose 3.9% on an organic basis. But due to foreign exchange effects, EBITDA pre remained around stable at 2.6 billion euros. Now, despite a challenging environment, the EBITDA pre-margin remains stable at 28.8%. What we have seen is slightly higher R&D expenses as well as ramp-up costs for recent site expansions which reflect our increased investment in innovation. And this investment is absolutely crucial as it serves as a key driver for future growth and differentiation in the market. Moving on to healthcare. Net sales in this sector climbed 3.7% organically. Foreign exchange effects, however, had a negative impact of 4.1%. Growth was primarily driven by our CM&E franchise, which grew a stellar 7%, as well as strong contributions from a multiple sclerosis treatment, Marvinclad, and fertility treatment, Pergoveris. And as Belen just mentioned, we announced an agreement with the White House in October to enhance access to approved IVF treatment from EMD Sirono. Our complete fertility portfolio has been available since beginning of February 2026 on TrumpRx.gov and the new fertility instant savings website. And of course, in the US we are working towards approval of Pergoveris, a fertility medication already available in 75 countries. All in all, EBITDA pre came in at 3 billion euros for the business, which is up more than 11% organically. Once again, foreign exchange effects partially offset the strong organic growth, And with that, let's look at the electronics sector. Now, electronics experienced a slight organic decline of 0.6%, which was mainly driven by our DSNES business, caused by prolonged delays to large customer projects. Merck expects DSNES to stabilize in 26 and to return to growth in the medium term. But despite this temporary headwind, our semiconductor materials business remained the main growth driver for electronics. It delivered strong high single-digit organic sales growth for the year, thanks to increased demand for high-value materials that enable AI chip systems and advanced nodes. Advanced notes refer to the latest semiconductor manufacturing processes, allowing for smaller feature sizes and the development of the most powerful chips. EBITDA pre was 9% lower, mainly due to one-time adjustments we reported in the second quarter of 25, as you may remember. And with that, let's take a look at our guidance for 26. Before I share the 26 guidance, note that there's three key assumptions underlying this guidance. First, regarding portfolio changes, our forecast reflects the SpringWorks acquisitions as well as the Surface Solutions divestment. And both of those will show portfolio effects in the first half. They will contribute to organic performance in the second half. Second, product scope. This guidance assumes no sales in the US of Mavenclad from March 26 onwards amid generic competition. What it also excludes is the positive effects from a potential US launch of Pergoveris. And third, my favorite topic, currencies. We expect a more volatile foreign exchange environment again in 26. And we assume negative FX effects to continue. Of course, the main drivers are US dollar developments, but we also observe various Asian and emerging market currencies extremely volatile. And with the evolution of currencies, please bear in mind that we expect for Q1 a disproportionate headwind coming from currencies relative to our full year FX guidance. Now, with these three underlying assumptions in mind, we are expecting group net sales of between 20 billion and 21.1 billion, which is based on an organic sales development of minus 1% to 2%. Group EBITDA pre of between 5.5 billion and 6 billion. And with that, let me walk you through the sector breakdown for 26. Starting with life science, our largest business, we confirm mid-single-digit organic sales growth. And that is very much in line with our projections from our Capital Markets Day, which was held in last October. we include in our assumption the continuation of the strong performance in our process solutions business. And across advanced and discovery solutions, we anticipate gradual improvements in biotech funding and academic research stabilization, as well as an evolving market environment in China. With that, moving on to healthcare. There, a challenging year is ahead of us, amid lifecycle challenges for key brands, and that is in particularly Marventlad. On the other hand, we expect growth in the remainder of the portfolio, including CM&E, fertility, and above all, the rare diseases, which will become, as already said earlier, organic in the second half of 26. For electronics, we anticipate continued strong growth in our semiconductor materials business while our DSNES business stabilizes going forward. And with that, I would like to hand it back for Belen for her closing remarks before we take your questions.

Thank you. Thank you, Helene. So let me first summarize our results and highlights on what 2025 has truly shown us. In the face of a multitude of challenges, we have delivered on our guidance. We also demonstrated our strength. of our diversified strategy across businesses and regions. And we believe we are sitting a strong platform and in the right growth areas, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, rare diseases, advanced therapies, which as I have said before, are a strong platform for growth, for future growth. And this was not by any chance. It was the result of a strategy built to endure and to build a resilient team that consistently delivers. As many of you mentioned to me at the beginning of the meeting, today is my last press conference with Merck. When I joined Merck in 2011, the company had just begun an unprecedented period of transformation. You may remember those days, I do. Alongside major acquisitions like Sigma, Aldrich and Bersun, I took on the task of transforming our healthcare business for a new era of patient care. When I became CEO in 2021, none of us could have imagined the volatile world we would have to navigate together. A global pandemic. Remember, I call myself a COVID CEO. The artificial intelligence revolution and the geopolitical fragmentation reshaping entire industries. Through it all, Merck just not only survive, but I believe we also thrive. We shifted from growth driven by acquisitions to disciplined, capital efficient growth. And today our earnings are rising faster than our sales. Our leverage is failing and every euro is working harder. The numbers tell the story. We invested over $7 billion in more than 30 new and expanded sites worldwide. We deployed over $4 billion in strategic acquisition and divestments. And we didn't just weather the storm. We emerged stronger. I am absolutely confident that Merck will continue this successful trajectory under CHI's leadership. And why? Because Merck is very well prepared and have very solid foundation for the next growth cycle. We have proven we can execute with discipline. We bridge the physical and the digital world. We turn science into solutions that matter for patients and customers. And we know that the future belongs to those companies that can navigate complexity and deliver results. And this is exactly what our company does and will continue to do. And I want to use this opportunity as well to say a heartfelt thank you to our teams around the world. And of course, to the executive team that has been working with me in recent years. And to you, thank you for covering our story. Thank you for holding us accountable. And thank you for your trust. Overall, thank you for this journey. And with this, Helene and I are ready for your questions. Over to you, Axel.

Thank you, Belen. So we are now transitioning into our Q&A sessions. As always, we will start here in the room. So please raise your hand once I've called your name. Please unmute yourself on the microphone in front of you, and we are happy to take your questions. For all journalists online, please use the Microsoft team links. received from us in advance, raise your virtual hand. And again, once I've called your name, please unmute yourself and if possible, turn on your camera. So we have now three chairs. I suggest we use them. So Helene, if you would like to join us on stage again for the Q&A session. And I see already, and I knew it, one hand up from Sonja Wynn from Bloomberg. Sonja, please go ahead.

Thanks for taking my question. I would be curious what you think about some analyst comments who said that Merck gave a deliberately conservative guidance because of the early Mavenclad, like that it's not included from March on, and also Pergoveris, that it's not included in the guidance. Do you agree with that assessment? Is there more upside for earning upgrades if all goes well? And my second question would be on the deal with Trump on the drugs. Can you give a bit more color on how much, like what is the size of that financial impact on the earnings? How much does it matter because it's only a certain patient group? Thank you.

The agreement, Sonia, the agreement with the U.S. administration, you mean. What is the impact? So I will take this. Perhaps you want to start with the guidance.

I do that. So overall, I mean, what do we guide? We guide the things that we have under our control and that we can actually see and predict properly. And in both of the things, it's like both Pergoveris, we are in discussions, we are talking, but it's unclear exactly how that will shape. I'm sure Belen will say that in a second. The problem is we don't know how many generics will come when and at what point in time. And as a result, this is a guidance which reflects our current knowledge at this point in time, as it should, really.

So for the agreement of the U.S. administration we have signed two agreements and we believe that this is a real win-win-win. It's a win first for the patients who are going to have access to IVF at affordable prices. It's a win for the administration because with our agreement they have been able to also start this novel approach through the Tram Rx to sell directly to patients. And it's a win for the company because we were already offering our treatments through different channels, and financially there is not a huge impact. The second agreement is the one that is going to make us exempt of tariffs for pharmaceuticals during three years. So with this you can imagine that we are extremely satisfied with the agreement and we are actually hoping that As part of this agreement, we will also get the approval for per goberis in the U.S. at some point in time in 2026.

Thank you. And the next question comes also from the room from Patricia Weiss from Reuters. Patricia, please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you. Some questions around Marvin Club. The strong effect comes something of a surprise, even though the patent loss was known. Why no sales at all in the U.S. instead of fewer? And how much of the $1.2 billion in last year was in North America? And what is the higher burden this year, Forex or Marvin Club? And it's your main product in health care. So what does that mean for the division and which successor candidates are ready to fill this gap?

Thank you. So maybe I start with the Marvin Platt question and then move. Belen will take the successor candidates, et cetera. So, yes, roughly 50% of the sales in Marvin Platt were U.S., were 50% roughly in Europe. At this point in time, when we look at the US, we have a number of generics lining up. They could be starting to sell tomorrow. And as a result, this is how we look at our guidance to basically say we don't exactly know when the sales are going to start and how it's going to impact our sales. I think when you look at the guidance, this is basically how we see the world going forward. So I don't think I need to add anything around that. And maybe, Belen, you want to do the successor products.

Well, I mentioned already, you know, the acquisition of SpringWorks has given us a new growth pillar. SpringWorks will contribute to organic growth, as Helena mentioned, as of the second half of 2026. But if you take the portfolio impact of the SpringWorks acquisition, it's already – pretty nice and is contributing 5% of portfolio growth already. So we are confident that SpringWorks will bring healthcare to the mid-term guidance that we have communicated before progressively, with 2026 being a year of transition in relation to the Mavenclad loss of exclusivity in the U.S.

Thank you. Patricia, does it answer all your questions? Perfect. So we don't have a question online yet. And here from the room, I see a question over there. Please unmute yourself.

Hello, thank you for taking my question. I'm Wei Shan from Xinhua News Agency, and I would like to ask a question about the global investment. And due to the current rising geopolitical tensions, and you have already mentioned about the agreements with the U.S. administration, I would like to ask about whether you are considering a change in any other investments or strategic focus in any other markets like Europe or China. Thank you.

Absolutely. I mean, we have mentioned several times our significant investment in our region for region approach. And this includes all the major regions. Keep in mind that our main source of revenue already for the group is coming from Asia Pacific. And, of course, this is a very important growth avenue for Merck. And we will continue to operate in this geopolitical context very much as a global company, but with a region-for-region approach.

Thank you. And we have a question from an online participant. So we have Bert Wendthoff from Handelsblatt. So please unmute yourself. And here we see you. Good morning.

Yeah, I hope you can hear me too. Thank you for taking my question. Just a quick one. I'm a bit confused about the issue of the US terrorists. pay tariffs on imports into the U.S. in 2025? And if so, will you demand a refund and take legal action to get it?

We are not thinking about refunds. So, I mean, the situation of tariffs in the U.S., as you may know, has recently changed with the Supreme Court decision. But this is not changing or having an impact on the agreement that we have signed with the U.S. administration that I mentioned already. So for 2025, do you want to comment?

So as you know, pharma tariffs under the Annex II were exempt, so we didn't pay any tariffs in the pharma area. However, there were products in the life science area which were not exempt, so we did pay tariffs in 2025, and also small imports that we've seen in electronics which were subject to tariffs. As Belinda said, I'm not sure how the refund regime will be on the back of the Supreme Court. So definitely nothing to be put in any guidance short term. And then let's see how exactly the world pans out now post the recent announcements, Supreme Court, et cetera. That one at the moment, it's pretty unclear how this will be.

But our agreement is basically out of this Supreme Court decision. So it holds.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the question, Mr. Frontov. I'm looking into the room. Do we have further questions here from the live audience in Darmstadt? Yes. And Anja Etzel from Die Welt.

Anja, please go ahead. Just to bridge the time gap, just a personal question for you, Berengar Jo. Looking back, what... What's the most important task that you achieved here at Merck, and what would you have liked to see unfold, but now you lack the time because you're leaving? Thanks.

I think I have been privileged to work with this company for 15 years. I still remember my times in healthcare, and we need to remember that As I mentioned, when I came in 2011, we were starting an unprecedented transformation and the 10-hour round of healthcare. In 2017, we launched three products to the market, Mavenclad, Pavencio, and Tepmeco. If you look at how we refocus on pharma to be able to diversify the company, I feel very proud that that transition, that I supported that transition actively from healthcare to find this globally diversified business that I fight in 2021. I feel particularly proud of everything that we have done on culture, talent, and people. And of course, the financial performance that we have delivered is stellar, because if you look at the period between 2020 and 2025, our business revenues grew by 20 percent, our earnings grew faster, and our debt has been going down. So, of course, there are many other things that we could have done, but if you Look at the overall picture. I feel extremely proud of what we have achieved together in the last 15 and even five years.

And because Belen is very humble, I mean, you're looking at a CEO who has steered a company through unprecedented volatility. in a very safe way. And actually, if you look at how we're set up now for the future, especially on the back of our Local for Local strategy, immunizing us from all of these geopolitical changes, that is like a real feat. And I think we're all here at Merck super grateful for everything that Belen has done.

Thank you, Belen.

Thank you. And we have a follow-up question. Sonja from Bloomberg. Sonja, please go ahead.

Yes. My question is about the strategic review in the CBMO business. How is that progressing and what is your plan there?

Go ahead. It's future looking. So, I mean, we have looking at, let me say that we are looking at all the options and we will communicate once a decision is made. But clearly this is what we can say today.

I don't know if you want to... No, I think it's ongoing. I mean, we've announced clearly that we're looking at this. Yeah, you'll get news if they're ready to be announced.

Thank you. And Tanya Feda, please go ahead. Tanya?

Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. Just one task didn't succeed. It was a deal for the life science business. Is this a task for your successor, Mr. Beckmann, now? Or do you step away from this ambition?

I mean, you will hear from Kai what is the agenda. I'm confident that the focus on life science will stay because, I mean, life science is our most important business. But I would really wait to hear directly from Kai, because he is the one that will be in charge as of May 2026.

Thank you. Do we have further questions here in the room? Looking left and right, there's a bit of an overweight from questions from that side. If not, also online. We don't have any questions. Maybe last call. Oh, we have a question from Focus Money, from Julia Vion. So please unmute yourself and turn on the camera. We can see you. Good morning.

Hi, good morning. I have one question concerning healthcare. So the last few weeks we have seen very conflicting messages from the FDA to say the least, especially concerning rare diseases. So first questions, how have Merck's interactions with the FDA been through the last month? month and second questions more broadly um what does it mean um for for the healthcare business if somehow goal posts are moving and um there are new regulations concerning how a study has to be done or how many studies have to be done thank you

We are very close to the regulatory agencies, not only to the FDA and particularly to the FDA because, of course, as part of that agreement that I mentioned before, we are having discussions on the fertility franchise and other products. Overall, I see some of the news coming from the FDA as positive, if at the end confirmed that they will be a bit more open to grant approval with less studies or with a lower, I don't think they will lower the bar anyway for the evaluation of risk-benefit of any new drug. But in particular, just to be brief, on orphan drugs, we are confident that this is the environment in which we can expect not only support from the regulatory agencies but also encouragement to continue to invest and investigate new solutions for patients given that orphan drugs and rare diseases are huge unmet medical needs.

Thank you.

Thank you. Looking into the room, and we have a question from Ralf Heidenreich from Darmstadt Echo. Ralf, please go ahead. Yes, hello.

Thank you. Good morning. First question is a personal question to Belen Gajiro. Have you been surprised becoming the next CEO of Sanofi? Then I would like to know your plans for the headquarters in Darmstadt. I think your last big investment program is over or will be over the next time. I'm not sure what will be next in Darmstadt. And I would like to know your plans for the employees in Germany and in Darmstadt.

Look, we are highly committed to Darmstadt. We have been investing in the last decade a significant amount of billion. Here, this is our hard quarter. We repeat and repeat that because this is very important to us. So we have given good signals of this. And our plan for Dampstad, you will have to further discuss for future years with my successor. I don't know if you want to comment, but is to continue to make sure that becoming a global company, we operate our company from our heart quarter. As for my personal question, you know, I always said I keep all my options open. And that's the only thing I can continue to repeat.

And maybe I take a little bit on the Darmstadt. I mean, we continue to invest. You see the number of construction cranes if you walk around the site. And we'll raise our focus on bringing more business into Darmstadt. And now I will do something slightly mean because we also need German politicians and German politics to finally deliver on the simplification agenda. It is very clear that we are frequently faced with the discussion around can we put things here into Germany, which we really want. Belen said hard quarter. But then if you actually look at the delays around getting permissions at the entire red tape that we have in Germany, it is not helpful. So if you could maybe include a big plea from our side, please deliver on the simplification, that would be great.

Thank you. Looking online, we don't have a question online into the room. Further follow-up questions here from the audience. Maybe one last check. I see a lot of smiles, but no raised hands, also not online. So I would say this concludes our press conference this year. A big thank you to all of you joining us here in Darmstadt today. Also, a big thank you to everyone online for joining us virtually. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you during our annual general meeting on April 24th. live and in color from Frankfurt, from Jahrhunderthalle, and of course to our Q1 webcast on May 13th, online as always. So please take care, see you soon, and all the best. Thank you.